
'E- 452 




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HoIIinger 

pH8.5 

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SPEECH 



ON. FERNANDft. 




OF ISTEAV 



NAVAL APPROPUrATION IJILL— AND Till-: NKtiOTfATIONS 

ILtlLI) BKTWMKN THE I'liKSIDHNT, AND THK COM- 

MlSStOx\EliS FllOAI UICIIMONI), FOli I'HACE. 



DKLIVEUEI) n^TlIK HOUSE OF KEPKESENTATIVES, FEBUUAUf i, 18C5. 



Tlie Naval ApprSpvjdlion Bill being under disonssion in the Committee of the "Whole 
on tlie stiite of the_ Union, atul the immediate question being oti an anieiidnieut 
offered by Hon. Hknry Wintkr Davis, of Maryland, to crente a Board of Admi- 
ralty, Mr. WU()^ fose and addressed the House as follows: 

In the rcmwlvs I intend to make upon this question, I do not 
propose to t'o.Ll'o'w in the line of or ptirticipate in the discussion 
of yesterday, so far as that discussion referred to the a(hninistra- 
tiou of the Naval Department. It is not my duty to defend the 
Secretary of the Navy ; it is not my purpose or disposition to 
assault him. Doubtless, sir, mucli of the criticism of the gen- 
tleman from Maryland with reference to the administration of 
its ati'airs was well founded, I have no donl)t that there are men 
in the country who coukl have conducted that Department with . 
more eiiiciency, with more success, and in a mode tliat would 
have been less liable to justify the assaults which have been 
made upon it in both wings of the Capitol. J3ut I am not disposed 
to hold tlie Secretary of the Navy responsible for the results of 
all the naval engagements since the commencement of this war. 
I am not disposed to hold responsible the head of any Depart- 
ment for its failure to accomplish all that was expected of him ; 
because, in my judgment, the man does not live who is capable 
of meeting the responsibility successfully that this stupendous 
war has imposed u]Jon the Executive Departments of our Gov- 
ernment. 

Therefore, so far as the administration of those Departments 
is concerned I am willing for one to be liberal and to exercise a 
spirit of indulgence with reference to the discharge of their du- 
ties. I will not, therefore", participate in that discussion, but 
have risen for the purpose of saying a word with reference to 
the amendment, in the way of a proviso, olfered by the gentle- 
man from Maryland. It is a proposition to establish a board of 
naval adiuinistration, or a Board of Admiralty. It proposes to 
create a board consisting of Hvc officers of the Navy, one of 
whom shall be of the rank of rear admiral, and the remainder 
commodores and ca])tains, and that this board shall advise with 
the Secretary of the Navy and share his res})onsibility. It pro- 



vicles that this hoard shall deliberate in common and advise with 
that officer, and that ho vesscl-of-war shall be built or materially 
altered, nor any engine ordered, nor indeed any repairs of any 
consequence performed, except by and with the advice and con- 
sent of this Board of Admiralty. 

I understood the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Davis] to say 
yesterday that he is in earnest in offering this amendment, and 
that he intends to press its adoption by this committee, and he 
justilied it in his usual astute manner by reference not only to 
the policy of England, but also by allusions to the inefficiency of 
the head of the Department. 

Now, so far as this board is to be constructed on the English 
plan, I apprehend that there is no analogy between the English 
system and our own. "What constitutes the exccntive power of 
England? Not the queen. The executive pow^bf England is 
vested in the ministry. The executive power., of the United 
States is, under the Constitution, vested in the President of the 
United States. The President of the United ^'tes, by our fun- 
damental law, is made the sole and only executor ..t)f our national 
affairs, and lie is responsible to the people and ncffyto Congress. 
The Secretary of the Navy is simply his subordinate ; he is re- 
sponsible to the President of the United States, the chief execu- 
tive officer of the country, and not to the Congress of the United 
States. The President is not only by the Constitution the Chief 
Executive, but he is more than that, which refers directly and 
explicitly to this proposed bureau itself; he is Cammander-in- 
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. 

The President of the United States is the head of the Navy 
Department, clothed by the organic law with the sole and exclu- 
sive management of that Department, subject of course to such 
laws as the Congress of the United States may make in pursuance 
and not in contravention of the Constitution. The Secretary of 
the Navy is, therefore, his subordinate. 

Now, sir, what does this amendment propose ? We propose to 
create, not a subordinate but a co-ordinate department of the 
Navy. We j^ropose to make a Board of Admiralty clothed with 
equal powers with the Secretary of the Navy, and, in some re- 
gards, with superior power to that which theSecretary of the Navy 
holds by law. Can we do that ? Have w^e the power to desig- 
nate the officers and men, as it is proposed to do by this amend- 
ment, who shall constitute a co-ordinate executive department 
over and above and against the powers and wishes of the Presi- 
dent? I think not, sir ; but had we the power, would it make 
the department more etHcient to do- that which will of necessity 
create dissentient councils ? Can we remedy the defects that ex- 
ist in the Navy Department, and I do not deny their existence, 
by creating in its midst an antagonistic element, thus inviting- 
division, which is the mother of all inefficiency in council as well 
as in execution ? 

Sir, responsibility accompanies power, and power must accom 
pany responsibility, and I prefer a concentration of responsibility 
and a concentration of power. I believe that that is the purest 
clement of republican government which strengthens the Excou- 



live, and that is the best and most simple form of exccntive power 
whicli disembarrasses the agent of the people in the discharge of 
the official duties confided to him. 

Sir, v^hat is our system ? We have the legislative department 
separate and independent; we have the judiciary department 
separate and independent; we have the executive department 
separate and independent ; and whereas in this country laws are 
simply the embodiment of the opinions and wishes of the people, 
made by the agents of the people in legislative capacity sasembled 
where you give the Executive unrestricted power to execute those 
laws, you preserve the design which the people had intlie creation 
of those laws through the instrumentality of their agents. 

I hold, therefore, that in conformation to the restriction of the 
fundamental law holding the Executive to the strictest accounta- 
bility to the power that created him, he should be disembarrassed, 
nnrestricted, and untrammeled. But, sir, this amendment is based 
upon the theory that naval officers are the most competent to dis- 
charge these special duties. It provides for the api)ointment of 
live of the oldest, and, if you please, the ablest, officers of the 
Navy, to constitute this Board of Admiralty, and the pres-umption 
is that they are to be selected from the very best qualified and 
most competent officers in the service. 

Now, sir, such man's services are required on the ocean. 
It would be an iTijury to the service to take men of this ability 
and capacity from the proper sphere of their duties, and bring 
them to this capital to do that which landsmen should do, and 
that wlilch, in my judgment, only landsmen are qualified to do. 

Again, sir, in the commercial marine it is the experience of the 
merclumts of the city of New York that the men who are best 
qualified to sail ships are not the best qualified to build them ; 
that one profession is separate and distinct from the other ; and 
it does not necessarily follow that a man who has had long ex- 
perience in sailing a vessel and managing its affairs is qualified 
to construct a vessel, to shape a model for a ves'sel ; that he knows 
more about the meclianical organization of the vessel he com- 
mands than the humble mechanic who has performed the work 
of constructing that vessel. 

Steers, the celebrated constructor of the yacht America, who 
founded a new school of naval architecture, never was at sea be- 
fore he conceived the model. lie improved upon the existing 
class of models of his day, and constructed a yacht which, after 
beating everything in America, was taken to Europe and beat 
everything there. Sir, he was a boy from the ship-yards of New 
York ; and not only have the best and most fleet merchantmen 
been since modeled upon his idea in the construction of yachts, but 
the best Government vessels are modeled upon the same idea. 

Hence it is that I contend that, were it right to form this board ; 
were it right to plant in any Department of this Government an 
antagonistic element leading to dissention and division there; 
that were there no other objection to the passage of this amend- 
ment, these men proposed to constitute this board are, in my judg- 
ment, not necessarily qualified, because they are naval officers, to 



perform the duties wliicli would be imposed upon them. Upon 
this ground, if upon no other, I should oppose the amendment. 
Now, Mr. Cliairman, a word as to the naval ap])ropriation bill 
itself. Tliis bill proposes appropriations in the aggregate of some 
$105,000,000, as against $85,000,000 last year,^and as against 
$13,300,000 the year immediately preceding the commencement 
of this war. The whole amount collected from the internal rev- 
enue taxatirn for the year ending the 30th of June last was about 
$109,000,000. Assuming tliat the present collections are not 
much in excess of what they then were, it is proposed to take the 
wliole amount of these collections, the results of this enormous 
burden upon the people of the country, and expend it upon one 
Department of the Government. Well, sir, I shall be answered 
that the cause of this expenditure or proposed expenditures arises 
from the war. IS'ow, sir, is this war to go on to justify this 
expenditure of the public money, and the imposition of these 
burdens upon the labor and industry of the country? I regret, 
sir, that the chairnum of the Committee of Ways and Means is 
not in his seat, that I might be enabled to ask him some questions 
witli reiference to the details of this bill, and with regard to the 
necessity for the imposition of this heavy tax required to meet 
the a]>propriations proposed in this bill. I can only sa}^, Mr. 
Chairman, that I had hoped, and I yet hope, that this war will 
cease, that the negotiatiojis of which we have recently heard so 
much will 1)0 productive of fruit, and thjit the antagonist sections 
and States shall once more be brought together in cojumunion and 
fraternal concords If it be true, sir, tJiat the President of the 
United States and the Secretary of State have gone personally to 
meet embassadors or representatives or commissioners as you 
may please to call them, from Richmond, I think that instead of 
this proceeding being obnoxious to the censure which I have 
heard bestowed upon it, they but follow the precedent of Wash- 
ington and IIan:iilton, who, in a similar emergency, went (the 
one President and the other Secretary of the Treasury) to treat 
with rebels who were engaged in the whiskey insurrection, in 
Pennsylvania, in 1796. If, therefore, it be true that the Presi- 
dent of the United States has made an honest effort to stop this 
shedding of blood, this exhaustion of the energies of our great 
country; if it be ti'ue that, realizing his responsibility to his 
country and his God, he has thus risen superior to partisanship 
and the unfortunate inilueiices Avhich have surrounded him, I say, 
all thanks to him, and. God speed him in the work of mercy a}Kl 
justice and right ! 

I know that rumor says that these negotiations, if negotiations 
they were, have failed. I think that the gentleman from Penn- 
sylvania [Mk. Stevens] indicated in his remarks this morning 
that there had been such failure. Sir, if this is the fact, it is to 
be regretted; but if they have failed in consequence of an indis- 
position upon the part of the rebel authorities to return to the 
Union ; if they have failed because those States and those so- 
called authorities refuse to reunite upon the basis of a common 
Union under a common Constitution, demanding recognition and 



5 

separation, then I say that, so far as I represent the peace senti- 
ment of the North, we will not and cannot sustain them in that 
position. 

Sir, I have been opposed to tliis war because I am ojiposed to 
its effects and fear its results. I was opposed to it and its con- 
tinuance till every conciliatory mode had been exhausted and 
proved a failure. It has been one of the sources of my complaint 
aj^ainst this Administration ; it has "been one of the gravest 
charges which, in my judgment, can be properly made against 
it, that instead of having proposed negotiations it has prevented 
any propositions of peace being made to it by denying admittance 
to this capital of any agent or emissary of the rebel government. 
Therefore, until I arn satistied that this Administration earnestly 
desires peace, that it has exhausted everything which in honor it 
could do to procure peace consistent with tJie Union and the 
maintenance of the laws and the Constitution of our country — 
until that time comes, sir, 1 must retain my position in favor of 
peace, and in favor of negotiations as against continued hostility. 

But, if these peaceful elfoi-ts have been made and exhausted, 
if the door to conciliation and union has been thrown open by 
the Presi dent of the United States, and if the answer to that has been 
recognition or separation, why, sir, so far as my feeble influence 
is concerned, it will be given in aid of our country to maintain 
in every constitutional way the national interity. Since the ex- 
piration of the first year of this war, I have thought that the 
Southern States repented of the hasty and violent course they 
had adopted in the attempt at secession. I knew that the lead- 
ing men of that section had not anticipated any very serious op- 
position to their withdrawal from the Union — certainly could 
not have supposed that the north M'-oald or could make the com- 
bined and Herculean efforts in opposition, which it soon became 
ap])arent it would and could do. 

Equally resolute and determine on their side, having thrown 
down their guantlet of defiance, they have continued the struggle 
with a volour and self-sacrifice which finds no parallel in History. 
And in passing, permit me to say that whatever may become of 
this war, however it may end, the history of these times, yet to 
be written — will devote its brightest and most eloquent pages to a 
recital of the lieroic deeds, and the self-sacrificing endurance of 
the people who now contend against the continuance of the 
American Union. But, sir, however high and enobling their 
convictions of duty, and however great their enthuciasm, I have 
not and cannot sympathize with the objects, if it be eteinal desolu- 
tion. Well, sir," the struggle has gone on. Instead of closing, 
as some supposed it would, in a few weeks — months and years 
have passed and it yet continues. The din of arms, the groans 
of the wounded and dying, the murmurs of the oppressed tax- 
payers, the threats of foreign interventi(m, the diversion of labor 
from its wonted channel, the imminent danger of ruin to our an- 
cient institutions, and all the evils incident to internal w;ir among 
a people whose Government was made exclusively for internal 
peace, has indeed caused the truly patriotic in both scctious to pause 



and weep. I know what I say to be true ! The dishiterested lovers 
of their country at both extremes have deeply lamented this fra- 
tricidal conflict. Among: sucli men a settlement by negotiation 
liave appeared to be the only hope. It was tlionght that the op- 
posing extremists could be thns brought together, that however 
violent, if the leading men in arms had an opportunity to com- 
mune freely with their old political and personal associates, and 
all the States an opportunity to resume their position within the 
"Union with their rights secured, that they would do so. Believ- 
ing this, and to this end I have ojiposed liostilities and advocated 
negotiations. Under this conviction I have strove for a confer- 
ence. I have in season and out of season urged an armistice 
at least long enough to bring the authorized agents of tlie con- 
tending parties in consultation. 1 did not doubt a favorable re- 
sult. 1 felt sure of the end, supposing that the people of the 
South would see that their noblest glory and their highest interest 
lie in obliterating the dreadful hostilities which had been engen- 
dered and in uniting with us, in a common eifort to maintain the 
integrity of the American soil, the honor of the Ameiican flag, 
and the' nationality of the American Union against foreign ag- 
gression, and in opposition to the existence of imperialism on 
the American Continent. This, sir, has been my hope by day, 
and my dream by niglit. I wanted my countrymen once more 
united — united in concord to sustain union among themselves, 
and united as against despotism elsewhere. I thought if this 
could be accomplished, the dreadful ordeal through which we 
have passed would be accepted as but the painful process by 
which the Almiglity prepared us for the great mission of univer- 
sal freedom and liberalism. Four years of war have not only 
developed our martial prowess, and tested our martial strength, 
but have produced and made efficient a million of fighting men, 
now in arms, the like of which the world has never seen. Thus 
the conquering armies of the North and South, under the lead of 
a Sherman, or a Grant, or a Lee, would present a military combi- 
nation which could strike terror to the invaders of Republican soil, 
whether in Northern or Southern American. As monarchies 
have attempted to dictate the form of government here, so could 
we thus together, following their example, direct that absolutism 
should cease everywhere. If republicanism can be subverted in 
Mexico, so can King Craft in Ireland, in Italy, and in Hungary. 
Then indeed would come the struggle between universal freedom 
and universal- bondage. Whether Christendom " shall be all 
slave or all free." Upon that mighty issue the American arms 
would enter ; upon that glorious enterprise the united American 
States would combine under the guidance of our Holy Master 
who recognized but one Lord and but one King. 
"Well, Mr. Speaker, at last circumstances produced or brought 
about a condition of things which appeared to warrant the Presi- 
dent in entering upon a conference. I am not advised, nor is it 
important what these circumstances were. It is sufficient to say 
that a meeting was held, and that this meeting was com])Osed of 
the very highest executive authority ou our side, and almost 



7 

equally h\^]\ m authority on tho other. Certainly so far as the 
jK'rsonal of this conference was concerned it was composed of 
tlie best material. Dispensiufij with intervudiaries it may be 
said with truth that the high controlling parties were happily 
brought in direct personal relations. A consultation thus held 
could not but be prodnctive of results, if results were possible. 
Each side was qualitied to speak understand ingly and by au- 
thority, and did so doubtless. The result is said to be before 
us. My position is predicated on this assumption. It is soon 
told — the mournful fact is divulged in the few short words which 
tells of total failure — recognition demanded ! and declined ! I 
care not, Mr. Speaker, to know details. Nations donotapi)roach 
the consideration of details until after the settlement of the gen- 
eral or more vital questions at issue. In this case I assume that 
the simple question on our side was, will you resume your posi- 
tion within the Federal Union ? The answer could be but yes 
or no. No power could deny the equal right of the Southern 
States and people to all their rights within the Union if they de- 
clared the willingness to come in. When their opposition ceases 
ours as a necessity ceases also. If it be said that their assent to 
come in is dependent on certain conditions as to indemnit}^, etc., 
etc., the obvious answer is that all the questions which will nec- 
essarily arise of this kind not only with reference to the Southern 
but as well to the Northern people and States, must be deterred 
until peace shall be restored and the Government is relieved 
from the immediate hurthcn of the war. If in *the Union the 
Southern States will themselves be parties to the arrangement of 
^the details, and have the right to participate in any legislation 
or other action taken — and no power will exist to prevent it. 
But, sir, it is declared, and doubtless true, that the demand 
was for a recognition of their existence as a separate nation or 
confederacy of States, and the propositions submitted on their 
side did not in any event comprehend reunion. Now, sir, if this 
is the true state of the case, and I apprehend it will so be ascer- 
tained, the result which I have so ardently contended, and hoped 
for and expected, has not been obtained. I have been deceived 
in the disposition of the enemy. Whilst a large portion of that 
people yearn for peace and a restoration of amicable relations 
with the North, as evinced even by the army as the commis- 
sioners passed through their ranks to the front, the men in au- 
thority at Richmond persist in impossible conditions of settlement. 
They liave not resj^onded in the true spirit of ]iatriotism, and have 
not yet seen the folly of their undertaking. When I contended for 
peace and opposed the war, it was not to accomplish the down- 
fall of the American Union. It was not to meet the demands of 
southern extremists who ask for separation. It was not because 
I favored the success of the southern arms in overthrowing the 
unity of the Federal power. I asked for negotiations as in my 
judgment the better way to accomplish the objects in view of 
"restoration. I was opposed to the continuance of hostilities un- 
til conciliation had been tried and had failed. I did not see how 
destructive warfare could conciliate those in arms against us. I 



8 

do not sec it yet ; but T do see that the norlhcrn people and Gov- 
ernment will not and cannot yield up the Union and the soil 
which properly belong to it. 

The tSouth persists in a demand for separation. The properly 
constituted Government of the whole Union, about whose author-, 
ity there is no dispute, refuse to and cannot submit to this pre- * 
tension — whether right or wrong this is a pregnant fact ; and we 
who pray for peace, who deeply lament the sore aliiictions which 
the South endures, have no recourse except to take one side or 
the other. Those who believe that the ISouth is in the right, and 
should become an independent antagonistic power, have no busi- 
ness here. If the alternative is presented of natiomd dismend)er- 
inent, and that dreadful result is right within itself, no one should 
remain a citizen of one of the divisions while honestly sympa- 
thizing witli and wishing success to the other. 

Negotiations for an amicable adjustment having fiiiled, and no 
recourse left but war, the people of both sections are bound, to 
sustain one side or the other. We cannot live in a community 
whose interests and united action we repel. In this case it is too 
late to contend for abstractions and obsolete theories — '' old 
things have passed away " — civil war with its stern and unyield- 
ing realities thrusts rudely aside the dreamy tenets of the Past. 
Political philosophy, however right within itself, belongs to an- 
other order of national affairs, and to another condition of the 
body politic. This is a period of action, not sentiment, of physi- 
cal trial not of ideas. It is folly to persist in the application of 
impracticable doctrines instead of accepting those which inevita- 
ble fate has forced upon us. For myself, after a fruitless ettbrt 
to obtain what ought to be, I have resigned myself to what is — I 
shall sfand by my country, my whole country — "right or wrong 
my country." Whilst I deplore the continuance of this dreadful 
conflict it is too late to moralize. The Union we cannot give np. 
This the Soutli should know once and forever. Disunion is im- 
possible ! We cannot recognize the existence of another confed- 
eracy made from the States which created and arc a part of this 
Government. This is our reply and this is the determination. 
The responsibility of what follows will rest with those who tirst 
provoked hostilities and then refused reconciliation. If they per- 
sist in presenting as an ultimatum, war or separation, I fear yet 
farther sacritices will be recpiired of them. If, after near four 
years of aggression in which their homes and firesides have been 
desecrated, their fruitful lields nuide desolate and waste, their 
material resources nearly exhausted and their cause almost re- 
duced to the hazard of a battle. They still persist in refusing an 
honorable adjustment. I cannot regard their position as right 
however nmcii I nuiy admire the spirit with which it is sustained. 

" God save the Ilepuhlio ! ^'' and let us once more renew our 
cflbrts to procure peace, but if failing let us preserve our nation- 
ality that we may preserve our Liberties and transmit t" --' qqngrESS 
ty the blessings v/hich were transmitted to us. LiBRftR". ,.,„iiiimiiimniii\miUl 




Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3.1955 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



